Dynamic media recording

ABSTRACT

A stream of media content is received in a media device. A value is determined in metadata of the media content relating to indicia of interest in a portion of the media content. A first clip including the portion of the media content is stored based at least in part on the indicia of interest, whereby the first clip is made available for later retrieval.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority as a continuation of U.S.Utility application Ser. No. 14/058,782 for “Dynamic Media Recording”(Atty. Docket No. THU9006), filed on Oct. 21, 2013, which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Digital video recorders (DVR's) and the like may be used to recordpresentations of media content, such as sporting events, politicalevents, etc. However, even when the subject of an item of media contentis of interest to a user, e.g., a football fan may generally beinterested in a football game, some or all portions of the item of mediacontent may not be of interest to the user. For example, a user may notbe interested in seeing an entire football game between teams the userdoes not follow, or may not have time to watch an entire game.Unfortunately, mechanisms are lacking to allow a user to record and viewonly portions of items of media content of interest to the user, e.g.,exciting portions of a football game or other sporting event.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary media content delivery system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of exemplary media content.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary process for recording media content.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Introduction

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary media content delivery system100. Using certain elements of the system 100 as disclosed herein, in anexemplary implementation, a digital media processing device 140 mayselectively, e.g., dynamically, record portions of a video streamdetermined likely to be of interest, e.g., exciting, to a viewer.Accordingly, the media processing device 140 may be used to generate andstore clips 155. Further, the clips 155 may be presented to a user in avariety of ways, e.g., presented for selective retrieval by a user, oneor more clips 155 may be arranged together to create a custom programfor a user, etc.

Accordingly, with reference to certain of the exemplary elements shownin FIG. 1, a media source 105 in the system 100 includes media content110, e.g., streaming content such as a video presentation which in thecontext of the system 100 may be an event such as a sporting event orother public event, or a presentation, e.g., a news presentation, etc.The media content 110 may be provided via a network 130 to a mediadevice 140 that is generally located in a customer premises 135. Mediacontent 110 may include media data 115, e.g., frames of video andassociated audio, along with metadata 120 describing various attributesand or portions of the media data 115. The media source 105 may alsostore, e.g., included in the metadata 120, interest data 125 related toan item of media content 110. The interest data 125 generally includesindicia of likely user interest, e.g., a tag or keyword or the like, ora numerical value indicating or rating a likely level of user interestin a portion of the media data 115, e.g., relating to an excitementlevel or the like for the portion of media data 115. A recording module145 included in the media device 140 may use the metadata 120, includingthe interest data 125, and possibly also a set of rules 150, to generateone or more clips 155 of the content 110.

Exemplary System Elements Media Source

In general, media source 105 may include multiple elements forprocessing, storing, and providing media content 110 and related data.Elements of the media source 105 may be local to one another and/or maybe distributed amongst multiple locations. For example, media source 105may include one or more computer servers (some or all of which may bereferred to as “media servers”) and data storage devices, e.g., forstoring and processing content 110 and other data such as discussedherein.

In general, the media source 105 may be any one or some combination ofvarious mechanisms for delivering media content 110, e.g., one or morecomputing devices and storage devices, and may depend on a type of mediacontent 110 being provided. By way of example and not limitation, mediacontent 110 data may be provided as video-on-demand through a cable,satellite, or internet protocol television (IPTV) distribution system,as streaming Internet video data, or as some other kind of data.Accordingly, the media source 105 may include one or more of a cable orsatellite television headend, a video streaming service that generallyincludes a multimedia web server (or some other computing device), orsome other mechanism for delivering multimedia data. In general,examples of media content 110 include various types of data, includingaudio, video, images, etc.

Media content 110 is generally delivered via the network 130 in adigital format, e.g., as compressed audio and/or video data. The mediacontent 110 generally includes, according to such digital format, mediadata 115 and media metadata 120. For example, MPEG refers to a set ofstandards generally promulgated by the International StandardsOrganization/International Electrical Commission Moving Picture ExpertsGroup (MPEG). H.264 refers to a standard promulgated by theInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU). Accordingly, by way ofexample and not limitation, media content 110 may be provided in aformat such as the MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or the H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced VideoCoding standards (AVC) (H.264 and MPEG-4 at present being consistent),or according to some other standard or standards. For example, mediacontent 110 could be audio data formatted according to standards such asMPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), etc. Further,the foregoing standards generally provide for including metadata, e.g.media metadata 120, along with media data 115, in a file of mediacontent 110, such as the media metadata 120 discussed herein (andmoreover, as discussed elsewhere herein, the metadata 120 may includeother elements such as interest data 125).

Media content 110 includes media content as it is usually provided forgeneral distribution, e.g., a sports or news program, etc., in a formhas provided by a distributor of the media content 110 via a mediasource 105. Alternatively or additionally, media content 110 may bemodified from the form provided by a general distributor of content(e.g., recompressed, re-encoded, etc.). In any case, media data 115generally includes data by which a display, playback, representation,etc. of the media content 110 is presented by a media device 140, e.g.,on a display device such a monitor, television set, etc. For example,media data 115 generally includes units of encoded and/or compressedvideo data, e.g., frames of an MPEG file or stream.

Media metadata 120 may include metadata as provided by an encodingstandard such as an MPEG standard. Alternatively and/or additionally,media metadata 120 could be stored and/or provided separately to a mediadevice 140, apart from media data 115. In general, media metadata 120provides general descriptive information for an item of media content110. Examples of media metadata 120 include information such as content110 title, chapter, actor information, Motion Picture Association ofAmerica MPAA rating information, reviews, and other information thatdescribes an item of media content 110. Information for metadata 120 maybe gathered from a content producer, e.g., a movie studio, mediainformation aggregators, and other sources such as critical moviereviews.

As already mentioned, the metadata 120 may include other elements suchas interest data 125. Accordingly, generally as part of metadata 120 inmedia content 110, interest data 125 may be provided from the mediasource 105 to one or more media devices 140. The interest data 125generally includes one or more indicia of interest, e.g., a numericalexcitement or interest rating, a descriptive keyword or tag, etc.,relating to a portion or portions of media data 115. Interest data 125may be provided according to a variety of mechanisms, e.g., a thirdparty vendor may supply interest data 125 concerning an item of mediacontent 110 in real time or near real time as the media content 110,e.g., a live sporting event, is made available from the media source105.

In addition, to specify exciting and/or interesting portions of mediadata 115, interest data 125 generally further includes a pointer orpointers or the like to a location or locations in media data 115, e.g.,according to timestamps or other indices. Such pointers may be used toaccess one or more portions of media data 115, e.g., such as may bespecified according to pointers or the like provided in the metadata 120associated with the media data 115. For example, FIG. 2 is a blockdiagram of an exemplary item of media content 110 with interest data 125specifying various segments in the media content 110. As stated above,media data 115 is typically an encoded (e.g., MPEG) video stream orfile. Metadata 120 includes indices or the like according to whichinterest data 125 may point to a specified segment (or segments), e.g.,a specified set of frames of the media data 115 included in the content110. Accordingly, clips 155 a, 155 b, 155 c, etc., in a file or streamof media content 110 may be specified according to respective indicia ofinterest, and pointers to respective portions of media data 115,included in respective items of interest data 125.

Network

Communications to and from the media source 105, customer premises 135,and one or more remote sites 170 may occur via the network 130. Ingeneral, the network 130 represents one or more mechanisms fordelivering content 110 from the media source 105 to a media device 140.Accordingly, the network 130 may be one or more of various wired orwireless communication mechanisms, including any desired combination ofwired (e.g., cable and fiber) and/or wireless (e.g., cellular, wireless,satellite, microwave, and radio frequency) communication mechanisms andany desired network topology (or topologies when multiple communicationmechanisms are utilized). Exemplary communication networks includewireless communication networks, local area networks (LAN) and/or widearea networks (WAN), including the Internet, etc.

Customer Premises

Turning to the customer premises 135, the media device 140 is generallya device including a computer processor and associated storage, e.g.,volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, etc., and capable of communicatingvia the network 130. Exemplary media devices 140 include a set-top boxthat includes or is coupled to a digital video recorder (DVR), apersonal computer such as a laptop, handheld, or tablet computer, asmart phone, etc. Accordingly, it is to be understood that a mediadevice 140 may be a mobile device rather than being located in aphysical customer premises all (or even some) of the time.

The media device 140 may include a display and/or may be connected to adisplay device, e.g., a television, or may incorporate a display device,e.g., a display of a smartphone, tablet or personal computer. Whencontent 110 is referred to herein as being “displayed,” it is to beunderstood that such display could include any possible mode ofdisplaying media data, such as a display of visual data, audio data,etc. For example, content 110 could be displayed by showing video orimage data on a screen with or without sound, by playing audio data withor without a visual display, etc.

The media device 140 generally includes a recording module 145, e.g., aset of instructions stored on a memory of the device 140, and executableby a processor thereof. The recording module 145 is generally configuredto identify a portion or portions of media data 115 in media content 110that meets at least one pre-determined criterion of user interest. Therecording module 145 is further generally configured to make thisidentification according to the indicia of interest included in interestdata 125, as well as possibly according to one or more rules 150.

For example, the recording module 145 could be configured to identifyinterest data 125 included in metadata 120 for a stream of content data110, and to determine whether the interest data 125 specifies indicia ofinterest that should trigger recording of a portion of media data 115.Continuing this example, metadata 120 for each frame included in an MPEGstream of media data 115 could include an interest datum 125 providingindicia of interest such as a numerical excitement rating, e.g., on ascale from 1 to 100. Then, when the recording module 145 encountered aframe of data 115 associated with indicia of interest at or above apredetermined threshold, e.g., 75, the recording module 145 couldrecord, i.e., capture for storage, that frame of data 115. Further, anyimmediately adjacent or contiguous frames of data 115 that met orsurpassed the threshold could likewise be captured and included in aclip 155 with the first-identified frame of data 115 that met orsurpassed the threshold. Similarly, an interest datum 125 could specifystart and end points, e.g., using timestamps, indices, etc., forrespective starting and ending locations in a stream of media data 115between which indicia of interest had a specified numeric value orassociated keyword, a value over a certain threshold, etc.

Likewise, an interest datum 125 could specify a tag or keywordassociated with one or more frames of media data 115, and the recordingmodule 145 could capture for storage, i.e. record, frames of media data115 in a clip 155, where the captured frames of media data 115 werespecified by the tags, keyword, etc.

Rules 150 may provide further parameters, rules, etc. for capturing aclip 155. Rules 150 may be predefined for all users, i.e., for all mediadevices 140, and moreover could be stored by a media source 105 andprovided and/or updated in a memory of the media device 140 by the mediasource 105. Alternatively or additionally, rules 150 may be customizedfor particular users and/or media devices 140. For example, a genericrule 150, i.e., a rule 150 for all media devices 140, could specify thatfor events identified in metadata 120 as sporting events, and excitementrating above a value of 75 should trigger recording of a clip 155, butfor all other events, e.g., news events, an excitement rating above avalue of 85 is required. Further, a custom rule 150 could specify thatfor events identified in metadata 120 as sporting events for a user'sfavorite team, e.g., an excitement rating above a value of 60 isrequired, but for other sporting events in a specified sport, e.g.,baseball, an excitement rating above a value of 90 is required.Additionally or alternatively, as discussed in more detail below, a rule150 could be used to identify an item of media content 110 for which therecording module 145 should examine interest data 125.

As mentioned above, rules 150 could be defined by a media source 105,and moreover, rules 150 could be included in instructions comprised inthe recording module 145. Additionally or alternatively, rules 150 couldbe specified by a user of a media device 140, e.g., using a graphicaluser interface (GUI) or the like provided on a display associated withthe media device 140. For example, such GUI could allow a user tospecify keywords, tags, etc. and/or threshold values for interestratings, e.g., excitement ratings, to trigger recording of a clip 155.Accordingly, a rule 150 could specify both a keyword and a threshold fora numerical interest rating, wherein a combination of the presence ofthe keyword and meeting or exceeding the threshold triggers recording ofa clip 155 according to instructions in the recording module 145.

Remote Sites

A remote site 170, as discussed above, may include a social media site,an e-commerce site, a news site, a site providing reference information,etc. A media device 140 could include instructions for allowing a userto specify a remote site 170 for posting a clip 155. For example, a GUIprovided by the media device 140 could allow a user to specify one ormore clips 155 to be posted to a user's social media account, or couldallow a user to specify that a clip 155 will be automatically posted toa user's social media account when the interest indicia in interest data125 associated with the clip 155 match certain keywords, tags, etc.and/or meets or exceeds a specified numeric threshold. Further, a user'saccount on a remote site 170 could be used to provide tags or the likeindicating user interest in subjects that could then be matched to oneor more interest data 125.

Exemplary Process Flows

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an exemplary process 300 for recording mediacontent.

The process 300 begins in a block 305, in which the media device 140receives, and analyzes interest data 125 in, media content 110. Themedia content 110 may be a stream of a live event, such as a sportingevent or a news event. However, it is possible that the media content110 is a prerecorded program or the like. In one implementation, themedia device 140 includes a digital video recorder (DVR), and usesoperations of the DVR to receive and store media content 110. Forexample, the media device 140 may include instructions to receivecertain programming providing certain items of media content 110, e.g.,specified sporting events on specified video channels, and to analyzesuch items of media content 110 for possible generation of a clip orclips 155 as described herein.

In any case, a specific item of media content 110 analyzed in the block305 may be selected or identified according to a variety of mechanisms.For example, a GUI provided by the media device 140 or some mechanism ofthe media source 105, e.g., a webpage or the like, could allow a user tomake a selection of one or more items of media content 110 for whichinterest data 125 should be analyzed for possible recording of one ormore clips 155. In this example, a user could be presented with a listof possible programs to select.

Alternatively or additionally, a user profile or the like could bestored in the media device 140, and/or at the media source 105 andprovided to the media device 140, where the user profile includedinformation to identify items of media content 110 for review by themedia device 140 for possible generation of one or more clips 155.Accordingly, such user profile information could be used in a rule 150indicating items of media content 110 for which the recording module 145should examine interest data 125. For example, a user profile, whichcould be generated according to user-provided input, according toinformation gathered by user viewing habits, etc., could identify typesof programming, and attributes of types of programming, of interest to auser. These program types and/or attributes could be specified in a rule150. For example, the media device 140 could store and/or could receivefrom the media source 105 data, e.g., one or more rules 150, indicatingthat a user of the media device 140 was very interested in the game offootball and/or an identity of a particular football team.

In any event, the media device 140 could be configured to analyzedinterest data 125 for items of media content 110 received from the mediasource 105 according to broadcasts received over particular viewingchannels available from the media source 105 and/or at particular times,according to media content 110 posted in a particular category at aparticular website, etc. Further, as discussed above, the media device140 could use information in metadata 120, e.g., identifying a type ofevent, teams playing, news figures being reported on, etc. to determinewhether to review interest data 125 in an item of media content 110.

Following the block 305, next, in a block 310, the recording module 145checks interest data 125 in the media content 110 metadata 120. If theinterest data 125 triggers a predetermined interest level, e.g., meetsor exceeds a predetermined threshold and/or includes predetermined tagsor keywords, then the process 300 proceeds to a block 320. Otherwise,the process 300 proceeds to a block 315.

As mentioned above, a user could use a GUI of the media device 140 tospecify a predetermined threshold and/or tags, keywords, etc. used totrigger an identification of an interest level for recording a clip 155.However, the predetermined threshold could also be specified at themedia source 105 and downloaded by the recording module 145. Further, itis possible that interest data 125 could indicate that an entire item ofmedia content 110, e.g., an entire football game, has an interest levelfor a user such that the entire item of media content 110, e.g., afootball game, political speech, etc., should be recorded, i.e., asingle clip 155 that includes the entire item of media content 110 maybe generated.

Further, the recording module 145 may make use of rules 150 indetermining whether interest data 125 triggers recording of a clip 155.For example, as mentioned above, a rule 150 could specify an interestdata 125 threshold to be met or exceeded for a particular type of mediacontent item 110, e.g., a football game, and/or for an attribute of atype of media content item 110, e.g., the data 125 threshold could bevaried according to the presence or absence of a particular footballteam in the media content item 110. As also mentioned above, therecording module 145 could use a rule 150 to determine whether toexamine interest data 125 in an item of media content 110.

The block 320 is executed if it is determined that an interest level hasbeen triggered in the block 310. In the block 320, the recording module145 records a portion of media data 115 in the item of media content 110for which it is determined that the interest level has been triggered.For example, the recording module 145 could begin recording frames in anMPEG stream of media data 115 when reaching a frame that was indicatedto have an interest level at or above the predetermined threshold, andcould then complete recording when reaching a frame for which theinterest data 125 indicated was associated with an interest level belowthe predetermined threshold. These recorded frames of media data 115 arethen included in a clip 155.

Following the block 320, in a block 325, the recording module 145 storesthe portion of media data 115 captured in the block 315 as a clip 155.In general, the recording module 145 includes metadata in the clip 155that may be copied or derived from the metadata 120 included in the itemof media content 110. For example, a program or event name may beprovided, and interest level, e.g., an excitement level, could bespecified, and other attributes of the media content item 110 from whichthe clip 155 was taking could be indicated, e.g., a sport or news event,teams and/or individuals featured in the clip 155, etc. Further, theclip 155 may be made available to a user in a variety of ways. Forexample, a GUI provided by the media device 140 could display a list ofclips 155 generated within a specified period of time. The clips 155could be displayed according to various organizational criteria, such assubject matter (e.g., football, hockey, political speeches, etc.),interest levels (e.g., more exciting clips 155 listed ahead of lessexciting clips 155), etc.

Further, the module 145 could include instructions to assemble clips 155into a composite presentation of media content 110, i.e., a presentationof media content 110 including clips 155 taken from one or more items ofmedia content 110 received from a media source 105. For example, themodule 145 could assemble clips 155 according to a one or moreattributes, e.g., subject of the clip 155, excitement level of the clip155, etc., e.g., football plays having a high excitement level, or evena particular kind of football play, e.g., kickoff returns, having a highexcitement level. Such composite presentations of clips 155 could thenbe made available in a GUI provided by the device 140, e.g., listedaccording to a description of attributes in the clip 155, e.g.,excitement level, subject matter, etc.

A block 315 may follow either the block 310 or the block 325. In theblock 315, the recording module 145 determines whether content 110continues to be received in the media device 140. If so, the process 300returns to the block 305. Otherwise, the process 300 ends following theblock 315.

CONCLUSION

Computing devices such as those discussed herein generally each includeinstructions executable by one or more computing devices such as thoseidentified above, and for carrying out blocks or steps of processesdescribed above. For example, process blocks discussed above may beembodied as computer-executable instructions.

Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted fromcomputer programs created using a variety of programming languagesand/or technologies, including, without limitation, and either alone orin combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, HTML,etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receivesinstructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., andexecutes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes,including one or more of the processes described herein. Suchinstructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using avariety of computer-readable media. A file in a computing device isgenerally a collection of data stored on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium, a random access memory, etc.

A computer-readable medium includes any medium that participates inproviding data (e.g., instructions), which may be read by a computer.Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to,non-volatile media, volatile media, etc. Non-volatile media include, forexample, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatilemedia include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typicallyconstitutes a main memory. Common forms of computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

In the drawings, the same reference numbers indicate the same elements.Further, some or all of these elements could be changed. With regard tothe media, processes, systems, methods, etc. described herein, it shouldbe understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have beendescribed as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, suchprocesses could be practiced with the described steps performed in anorder other than the order described herein. It further should beunderstood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, thatother steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein couldbe omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein areprovided for the purpose of illustrating certain embodiments, and shouldin no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description isintended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many embodiments andapplications other than the examples provided would be apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon reading the above description. The scope of theinvention should be determined, not with reference to the abovedescription, but should instead be determined with reference to theappended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which suchclaims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that futuredevelopments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that thedisclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such futureembodiments. In sum, it should be understood that the invention iscapable of modification and variation and is limited only by thefollowing claims.

All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadestreasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood bythose skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contraryin made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,”“the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of theindicated elements unless a claim recites an explicit limitation to thecontrary.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for automaticallyrecording a portion of a media content item, comprising: receiving amedia content stream; and while the media content stream is beingreceived: determining a threshold value for a parameter indicatinginterest; and for each of a plurality of successively received portionsof the media content stream: determining whether a metadata value of themedia content portion meets or exceeds the threshold value for theparameter; and responsive to a determination that the metadata valuemeets or exceeds the threshold value for the parameter, automaticallystoring, in a storage device, a first clip including the portion of themedia content stream, whereby the first clip is made available for laterretrieval; wherein the threshold value is determined, at least in part,based on an objective determination of interest level that isindependent of preferences of any single user.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold value isdetermined, at least in part, based on a determination of a particularuser's interest in the portion of the media content stream.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold value isdetermined, at least in part, based on a determination of a particularuser's interest in the portion of the media content stream, based ondata from an account associated with the user on a remote site.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:automatically creating a composite clip comprising at least oneadditional clip; and automatically storing the composite clip in thestorage device.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, whereinautomatically creating a composite clip comprising at least oneadditional clip comprises to automatically arranging the first clip andthe at least one additional clip according to a determination ofinterest level in the clips.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim4, wherein automatically creating a composite clip comprising at leastone additional clip comprises to automatically arranging the first clipand the at least one additional clip according to a determination of aparticular user's interest level in the clips.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying,on a display device, a graphical user interface comprising a link to thefirst clip.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein themetadata value of the media content portion is generated in real time ornear real time.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereinthe media content stream comprises a live broadcast.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the threshold valuecomprises a threshold for the metadata value.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium for automatically recording a portion of amedia content item, comprising instructions stored thereon, that whenexecuted by a processor, perform the steps of: receiving a media contentstream; and while the media content stream is being received:determining a threshold value for a parameter indicating interest; andfor each of a plurality of successively received portions of the mediacontent stream: determining whether a metadata value of the mediacontent portion meets or exceeds the threshold value for the parameter;and responsive to a determination that the metadata value meets orexceeds the threshold value for the parameter, automatically storing, ina storage device, a first clip including the portion of the mediacontent stream, whereby the first clip is made available for laterretrieval; wherein the threshold value is determined, at least in part,based on an objective determination of interest level that isindependent of preferences of any single user.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the threshold value isdetermined, at least in part, based on a determination of a particularuser's interest in the portion of the media content stream.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein thethreshold value is determined, at least in part, based on adetermination of a particular user's interest in the portion of themedia content stream, based on data from an account associated with theuser on a remote site.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 11, further comprising instructions stored thereon, that whenexecuted by the processor, perform the steps of: automatically creatinga composite clip comprising at least one additional clip; andautomatically storing the composite clip in the storage device.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, whereinautomatically creating a composite clip comprising at least oneadditional clip comprises to automatically arranging the first clip andthe at least one additional clip according to a determination ofinterest level in the clips.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 14, wherein automatically creating a composite clipcomprising at least one additional clip comprises to automaticallyarranging the first clip and the at least one additional clip accordingto a determination of a particular user's interest level in the clips.17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, furthercomprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed by aprocessor, perform the steps of: causing a display device to display agraphical user interface comprising a link to the first clip.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein themetadata value of the media content portion is generated in real time ornear real time.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim11, wherein the media content stream comprises a live broadcast.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein thethreshold value comprises a threshold for the metadata value.
 21. Asystem for automatically recording a portion of a media content item,comprising: a media device, configured to receive a media contentstream; an electronic storage device; a processor, communicativelycoupled to the media device and to the electronic storage device,configured to, while the media content stream is being received:determine a threshold value for a parameter indicating interest; and foreach of a plurality of successively received portions of the mediacontent stream: determine whether a metadata value of the media contentportion meets or exceeds the threshold value for the parameter; andresponsive to a determination that the metadata value meets or exceedsthe threshold value for the parameter, automatically causing the storagedevice to store a first clip including the portion of the media contentstream, whereby the first clip is made available for later retrieval;wherein the threshold value is determined, at least in part, based on anobjective determination of interest level that is independent ofpreferences of any single user.
 22. The system of claim 21, wherein thethreshold value is determined, at least in part, based on adetermination of a particular user's interest in the portion of themedia content stream.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the thresholdvalue is determined, at least in part, based on a determination of aparticular user's interest in the portion of the media content stream,based on data from an account associated with the user on a remote site.24. The system of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configuredto: automatically create a composite clip comprising at least oneadditional clip; and automatically cause the storage device to store thecomposite clip.
 25. The system of claim 24, wherein automaticallycreating a composite clip comprising at least one additional clipcomprises to automatically arranging the first clip and the at least oneadditional clip according to a determination of interest level in theclips.
 26. The system of claim 24, wherein automatically creating acomposite clip comprising at least one additional clip comprises toautomatically arranging the first clip and the at least one additionalclip according to a determination of a particular user's interest levelin the clips.
 27. The system of claim 21, further comprising: a displaydevice, communicatively coupled to the processor, configured to displaya graphical user interface comprising a link to the first clip.
 28. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the metadata value of the media contentportion is generated in real time or near real time.
 29. The system ofclaim 21, wherein the media content stream comprises a live broadcast.30. The system of claim 21, wherein the threshold value comprises athreshold for the metadata value.